by Victor Davis Hanson// Defining Ideas As missiles fall on Syria in retaliation for Bashar Assad’s medieval use of chemical weapons—and as voices call for the use of some American ground troops to expedite his removal—we might reflect upon American military interventions in the post-Vietnam era. America’s major interventions include Iraq in 1991, the […]
by Victor Davis Hanson// National Review He grasped that what voters cared about were the very issues politicos were disdainfully ignoring. The American middle classes, the Chinese, and Vladimir Putin have never been convinced that Ivy League degrees, vast Washington experience, and cultural sophistication necessarily translate into national wisdom. Trump instead relies more on instinct
by Victor Davis Hanson // Defining Idea Image credit:Barbara Kelley The Greek city-states in the fourth-century BC, fifth-century AD Rome, and the Western European democracies after World War I all knew they could not continue as usual with their fiscal, social, political, and economic behavior. But all these states and societies feared far more
Technology hasn’t changed the core of who we are, and history proves it. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online In today’s technically sophisticated and globally connected world, we assume life has been completely reinvented. In truth, it has not changed all that much. Facebook and Google may have recalibrated our lifestyles, but human
Can Trump get out of the trap of running against himself? By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Donald Trump is not so much running against Hillary Clinton as against the inner demons of Donald Trump. The 2016 election still should easily be his to win. Americans do not historically like the twelve-year regnum
Our domestic tensions embolden our enemies. By Victor Davis Hanson//National Review Online Here is a sampling of some recent news abroad: A Russian guard attacked a U.S. diplomatic official at the door to the American Embassy in Moscow, even as NATO leaders met to galvanize against the next act of Russian aggression. The Islamic
Other public figures won’t admit they agree with him — but they often quietly adopt his ideas. By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online Donald Trump has a frightening habit of uttering things that many people apparently think, but would never express. And he blusters in such an off-putting and sloppy fashion that he
By Victor Davis Hanson // Defining Ideas If Donald Trump manages to curb most of his more outrageous outbursts by November, most Republicans who would have preferred that he did not receive the nomination will probably hold their noses and vote for him. How could that be when a profane Trump has boasted that he
By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online In 1939, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier warned Adolf Hitler that if the Third Reich invaded Poland, a European war would follow. Both leaders insisted that they meant it. But Hitler thought that after getting away with militarizing the Rhineland, annexing
by Victor Davis Hanson // Defining Ideas Seventy-seven years ago, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, triggering a declaration of war by Great Britain and its Empire and France. After Hitler’s serial aggressions in the Rhineland, the Anschluss with Austria, the Munich Agreement, and the carving up of Czechoslovakia, no one believed that a formal war